Foriegn Exchange Wizard
by mastertoenail
Summary: This is the story of an American wizard who is forced to go to hogwarts as a foriegn exchange student.
1. Chapter 1

**AN This is obviously based in the Harry Potter Universe, but i've always hated how the magic system work for them, so i might the main character more Dresden Files like (ie. Soulgaze and .44 magnum). Hope you don't mind.**

The Train chugged along slowly. I frickin' hate trains. I sighed. Why the hell did I agree to this? Stupid foreign exchange program.

I guess I'd better explain. My name is Hugh Johnson, age 15. And I'm a wizard. I was originally from Minnesota, but when I turned 7, I moved to Chicago for more wizard training. Now I was on my way to some stupid British wizardry school. What was it called again? Pig something or another? Whatever.

I looked out the window, the Scottish landscape sliding by. At least it was prettier than Chicago. Just then, the door to his cab slid open. "Are these seats open?" A girl's voice asked, "I can't find any other seats."

"Yeah, go ahead," I said, not taking my eyes off the landscape.

"Hey, you're the foreign exchange student that's coming to Hogwarts, right. My name is Luna Stardust. It's nice to meet you."

_Luna Stardust?!?_ Wtf? Who seriously names their kid Luna Stardust? I finally looked over at the person that had started talking to me. She had long blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She wore clothing almost identical to mine: a black duster with maroon on the inside, a white dress shirt and a maroon and gold striped tie, with black dress pants. My clothes weren't nearly as dress, but still similar: black duster, a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black cargo pants to hold all my random necessities. Plus I wore a black baseball cap, so that's a little different.

She, not surprisingly, noticed my starring at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh… nothing, sorry, mind just started to wander. Anyway, my names Hugh, it's nice to meetcha."

"Well Hugh, do you what house you're going to be in?" She asked excitedly. Stars and Stones, this might get annoying.

"No idea. I think my master said something about a griffon but I was too pissed to pay attention to him." I replied, looking back out the window.

"Pissed?" she asked, "What does that mean?"

"Angry, mad, ticked off."

"Oh… so you don't want to be here."

I turned and looked here as directly in the eyes as I could without starting a soulgaze and said. "No, I don't want to be here. I'd rather be at home learning something that will be useful in combat."

"There are classes that are useful… I guess. We have defense against the dark arts. That might be helpful."

I got a good chuckle out of that. A reached into my pocket and pulled out my custom .44 magnum (and yes, it would fit. I have magic pockets). "This is all defense against the dark arts that I need."

That scared her a bit. I put it away and said, "that's one of the first things my master taught me: always bring something your opponent won't expect. Against dark wizards, guns generally work best, because they expect you to use magic. But I'll probably be forced to take that class anyways so whatever." I sighed, there had to be some other good classes that wouldn't bore me to tears. "So, what classes are you taking?"

"Well… I'm taking Advanced Transfiguration, Charms, Honors Potions, AP Magical History, Honors Ancient Runes, AP Muggle Studies, and of course, Defense Against the Dark Arts," She said, obviously quiet pleased with herself.

"Are those some tough classes?" I asked

She starred at me in disbelief, "Of course they are. Advanced Transfiguration is one of the toughest classes at Hogwarts. Have you not even looked into what you're going to be taking… well, obviously not. Here I'll help you." She pulled out a list from her pocket. "How good are you at transforming things into other things."

I thought about it. "Pretty good, I guess. I once turned an entire building into a crater, if that's what you mean (I don't think she noticed the implications of that). Other than that, I've got a spell that can change the chemical make up of something and turn it into a different substance all together."

"Sounds like you should take Advanced Transfiguration," she said circling something on the paper. "How about… are you good at--"

"Just sign me up for whatever you're taking," I interrupted her. "I really don't care what classes I take."

We sat in silence for a while. I turned back to the window. "So, where in America are you from?" She asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I was born in Minnesota, but I moved to Chicago, Illinois, when I was seven so that I could train under on of my dad's best friends."

There was a slight pause, as if she had just thought of something. "How old are you?"

"I'm 15."

"Hey, so am I. If we sign up for all the same classes, we can study together."

"Study… do you mean we're going to have tests and stuff?"

"Of course, what did you do in America?"

"Our tests were life or death battles against the forces of darkness mostly. Not mush you can study for there."

She just starred at me as though I were insane. Sometimes I wonder. "We didn't really have formal tests. We most just learned whatever we needed to stop whatever nasty thing was trying to kill us or those close to us."

"Oh… so this is your first time attending school then?"

"Pretty much." I sighed. I hated the idea of schools. Being forced to learn something I'll probably never use is just… useless.

"I get the feeling you don't like me." She said suddenly. That surprised me. I looked up a little too fast, meeting her eyes. Shit. The soulgaze started.

I saw her, completely naked. Not sexually mind you, but I could see everything. She was a good person at heart, but she had a dark secret. She was scared of whatever the secret was, I could tell. She was strong willed and independent. She had many friends and her family was kind to her. She had a good sense of humor. And I could tell she thought I was cute.

The soulgaze ended, and I could see she was shaken. She was breathing hard and it looked like she had almost fainted. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to do that."

After her breathing slowed and she had calmed down, she asked, "What the bloody hell was that?"

"That's what we call a soulgaze. When a wizard looks directly into the eyes of another person, that happens. We see directly into the other person's soul, and vice versa. Hasn't that ever happened to you before?"

"No."

I chuckled. "Well then I'm glad to have been your first." She just starred at me as I continued laughing.

"So everything that I just saw, that was your soul?"

"Yep."

"…You're a pervert," she said, her eyes narrowing at me.

"Wait… what did you see?"

Just then the train lurched to a stop. "Maybe I'll tell you later." She handed me the brochure (or whatever it was), "If you still want to be in the same classes as me, they're circled." The walked out of the compartment and out the door of the train.

I sighed. Time for school. I followed after her, and on stepping out of the train, saw a rather large man holding a sign with my name on it. I walked over to him and he extended. "My name is Rubeus Hagrid. Welcome to Hogwarts."


	2. Chapter 2

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… What a crappy name. Seriously, who names a school after viral infections on a pig? Obviously, the British. But that's where I was, standing just outside the "Great Hall", apparently where everyone was eating. My stomach rumbled. Stars and Stones, I hadn't eaten since yesterday.

I heard steps behind me and saw a bunch of kids coming up some stairs. They looked like they were maybe nine or ten. A man in a long black… robe I guess, with medium length black hair. He kind of reminded me of the so called "Death Eater" who had tried to kill. Stupid person, you don't eat death, death eats you. Anyways, he looked over at me and said, "You, American boy, come here. I will give you this speech as well." He had said _American_ as if it were an insult.

I walked over to where the ten year olds were standing and the man began. "My name is Professor Crone. It is my duty to say 'Welcome to Hogwarts'" I notice he didn't sound happy about it. "You are here to become the witches and wizards of tomorrow. Here you will learn to defend yourself, charm and change objects, brew potions, and tell the future. Now it is time to join your fellow students in the Great Hall. But before we do that, are there any questions?"

There weren't any, so this Crone guy lead us into the hall. Before I went in he stopped me and told me to wait her until called. As I looked in, I noticed a few things about the room: 1) it was HUGE. 2) it had a frickin' awesome ceiling and 3) pretty much everyone was staring at me. On either side of the hall, there were two tables, so four in all.

In the far back of the room, there was a long table perpendicular to the others. I assumed that has where the teachers sat. Some lady in front stood up and gave a speech. I wasn't really paying attention, but she mentioned that some big tournament would be this year and that there would be a change in the rules, yata yata yata, blah blah blah. I wasn't really paying attention. After her big speech all the little kids went up and stood in front. Someone brought out a stool with a hat on it. The Crone guy yelled a name, and the kid went up, sat on the stool and put the hat on, all of a sudden, the hat yelled out "Slytherine!" People on the far left table cheered. They repeated this for every new student until everyone was seated.

Then the Lady got up again. "And finally, we have special guest joining us this year. He is a foreign exchange student from America." She waved her hand towards me and I could see everyone turning to look again. Some people had looks of awe, some had looks of disgust, most looked indifferent. "Hugh, would you please come up here."

Not wanting to have to walk, and being that I was surrounded by other wizards, I decided to do something, not stupid, but not smart. In my head I visualized two pentacles, one where I was standing, the other just in front of the head table. Closing my eyes, I forced energy into the pentacles in my head and whispered under my breath "Teleport".

I opened my eyes and saw that it had worked. HELL YEAH. Everyone was now staring at me in awe. "Well that was quiet a show. However, I must remind you that Apparition is strictly forbidden at Hogwarts." The lady who had been talking before told me. I didn't have the slightest idea what apparition was, but apparently it was forbidden. I'll have to remember that. "Now that you are here, I will introduce you properly. Students, this is Hugh Johnson. He here as a foreign exchange student from America. He will be staying with the Gryffindor house," the people on the far left cheered (that's my far left now that I was facing the opposite way I was facing before). "Please make him fell welcome and help guide him around the castle." Turning to me, she said, "You may take you're seat at the Gryffindor table. And please," she paused, smiling at me, "walk this time."

I nodded and walked over to the table that everyone had cheered at and sat down. The lady that had been talking then said "Let the feast begin!" and all of a sudden there was all food on the table. All types of food. Nearly gave me a heart attack. Didn't seem to surprise any one else though, they all dug in immediately. I recovered from the shock of the suddenly appearing food and started eating as well.

"So you're from America?" the guy next to me asked.

"Yes,"I replied unenthusiastically.

"Cool! What's it like living amongst the muggles?"

"Uh, what?"

"I know there aren't any big wizarding schools in America, so was it hard to learn magic without letting the muggles know about you."

"Uh, well, one real quick question… what's a muggle?"

He just stared at me. The person on the other of me, a girl, asked, "You don't know what a muggle is?"

"No," I replied, "what are they. I've heard that word before though. What does it mean."

"Muggles are non-magical people," said the guy across from me.

"Oh. Well then no, it's wasn't hard to learn magic around them. I mean, it's not like we were trying to hide or anything, but no one really paid that much attention to us."

"What do you mean you weren't trying to hide, isn't that against the law." That was the guy kitty-corner, on the left, from me.

"I didn't think so. I mean my master has been in the phone book for years under 'wizard' and no one has come after him for it." I didn't add that people had come after him for other things.

"That's because they are part of the White Council. Isn't that right, Hugh?" said Luna, sitting down across from me, the other person moving down to make room for her.

"Yeah, aren't you guys?" I asked surprised.

"No, we're part of the Ministry of Magic," she replied.

"What's the White council?" asked the guy next to me.

"You'll learn about this year in Magical History," said Luna. Turning to me, "So have you decided on your classes?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd make it easy on myself and just take the courses you had circled."

The girl on my left giggled. "What's so funny I asked?"

"You're taking the same courses as her to go easy on yourself?" she asked giggling.

"Yeah," I said, "Why?"

"Because I'm taking the most rigorous this school has to offer. Most people wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Do you die if you fail?" I asked seriously.

"NO! Of course not," she exclaimed.

"Then it'll be a hell of a lot easier than what I've gone through," I said as I dug into a huge turkey drum stick. No one said anything after that, not to me at least. Maybe is scared them; maybe I shocked them; maybe they thought I was a loser.

Anyways, the meal went by pretty uneventfully. Afterwards, we were lead up to the dorms. The head of Gryffindor house took me and the new students on a tour of part of the castle, pointing out generally where each class was going to be. He then led us back to the dorms and showed us our rooms. My stuff was already there, but I opened it just to make sure. My staff and blasting rod were lying on top, with all my clothed underneath. I took off my duster and laid it on the bed that was apparently mine.

There was a person in the bed next to mine. He looked at me and said, "You're the American, right?" Before I could say anything, he said, "It's nice to meet you, my names Arnold Hopkins."

"I'm Hugh," I said, "nice to meet you too."

"If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come talk to me."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." And with that we shook hands and headed back out into the common room. I had made my first friend at Hogwarts. (And no, I don't count Luna as a friend, and don't you go getting any ideas.)


End file.
